Floating wind farm delivers electricity to Scots grid

Hywind Scotland, the first floating wind farm in the world, has started to deliver electricity to the Scottish grid.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon officially opened the wind farm on Wednesday.

The 30MW wind farm, operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar, is located 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead and will power 20,000 households.

“Hywind can be used for water depths up to 800 meters, thus opening up areas that so far have been inaccessible for offshore wind,” said Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president of the New Energy Solutions business area at Statoil.

“The learnings from Hywind Scotland will pave the way for new global market opportunities for floating offshore wind energy.

“Through their government’s support to develop the Hywind Scotland project, the UK and Scotland are now at the forefront of the development of this exciting new technology.

“Statoil looks forward to exploring the next steps for floating offshore wind.”

Sturgeon said: “This marks an exciting development for renewable energy in Scotland.

“Our support for floating offshore wind is testament to this government’s commitment to the development of this technology and, coupled with Statoil’s Battery Storage Project, Batwind, puts us at the forefront of this global race and positions Scotland as a world centre for energy innovation.”

The onshore operations and maintenance base for Hywind Scotland is located in Peterhead, while the operations center is located in Great Yarmouth.

Crown Estate Scotland leases seabed to renewables developers and works to encourage development and attract investment.

Sian Wilson of Crown Estate Scotland said: “It’s fantastic to see Hywind Scotland up and running.

“The project is a great success for the teams at Statoil and Masdar and for Scotland, where floating wind could really flourish due to our accessible deeper waters.

“We are committed to continuing our work to encourage floating offshore wind projects, which will in turn drive down costs, benefitting the whole sector — as well as the climate and consumers.”